Melodeath
Moonbow
Pretty much any time I pick up my guitar, I wind up writing at least one riff just by jamming around. But when I'm jamming with my band, we usually are TRYING to write something, and that works too. So, both ways work for me.
How many others here feel 'they' don't ever write music, but rather it just happens?
- Thread starter Cryo114
- Start date
NoSoup4you22
Keep on blorpin'
I have a 19 minute song which I don't remember the writing process of at all. It's so bizarre. I use logical thinking/music theory for my song structures and some transitions, but probably 90% of my stuff just happens on its own. I firmly believe that the song just is what it is, and it's basically my job to replicate it exactly as it is meant to be.
Uladyne
Greg
Normally ideas happen when I'm away from any instruments, so I have to commit them to memory or cell phone or paper so I can work them out later. Usually they end up being scrapped because they don't sound as good recorded as they did in my head.
On the rare instances that I sit down to try to write something, I like to think of it as a random process. I noodle around and try different notes/patterns/chords/sequences until something sounds interesting enough to develop further, then I start keeping the parts I like and changing the parts I don't like. It's always a very natural process with me, and the stuff that just seems to "come to me" I would attribute to randomness. Kind of like hitting the jackpot on the 1st pull of the handle. It's unlikely, but entirely possible. Normally it takes about 34 pulls of the handle to make the machine pay off for me in any way.
A very "un-spiritual" and perhaps boring way to look at it, but yea, thats kind of how it works for me.
I could bring in a Natural Selection analogy to make it even more boring and lame sounding if you want, haha.
On the rare instances that I sit down to try to write something, I like to think of it as a random process. I noodle around and try different notes/patterns/chords/sequences until something sounds interesting enough to develop further, then I start keeping the parts I like and changing the parts I don't like. It's always a very natural process with me, and the stuff that just seems to "come to me" I would attribute to randomness. Kind of like hitting the jackpot on the 1st pull of the handle. It's unlikely, but entirely possible. Normally it takes about 34 pulls of the handle to make the machine pay off for me in any way.
A very "un-spiritual" and perhaps boring way to look at it, but yea, thats kind of how it works for me.
I could bring in a Natural Selection analogy to make it even more boring and lame sounding if you want, haha.
mts1979
Member
- May 3, 2006
- 207
- 0
- 16
With me at least, there's a couple different things happening. There's that first spark of an idea -- a riff pops into your head while you're taking a dump, or awesome lyrics come to you while you're driving. That definitely happens, and I don't feel like i'm consciously "writing" stuff at that time.
But after that initial burst of ideas, it still needs to get refined and expanded on. Does the song need a pre-chorus? Maybe change the key for that one part? What do the drums do? THAT stuff tends to be a bit more deliberately thought out, at least in my case.
But after that initial burst of ideas, it still needs to get refined and expanded on. Does the song need a pre-chorus? Maybe change the key for that one part? What do the drums do? THAT stuff tends to be a bit more deliberately thought out, at least in my case.
metalfanat1c
Member
- Jun 17, 2010
- 491
- 0
- 16
My music comes right off the top of my head. Usually right after I've spent a few hours just listening to music I don't normally listen to.
lets be honest : writing songs is just taking everything we learned and listened to in the past and combining that into something new.
even stockhausen or cage started out learning from the great composers before their time, then developing from there.
i think to really become a songwriter, you have to learn the basics of harmony and rhythm, then develope your own "sytle" from there.
i force myself to write as often as possible nowadays , that just helps me develope ideas faster (because your getting used to writing, yes you can actually learn that).
and i can get rid of 90 % i write (which to my ears is shit)
but i certainly sometimes look at a song i wrote and go : holy shit, how did i do this - was that really me?
even stockhausen or cage started out learning from the great composers before their time, then developing from there.
i think to really become a songwriter, you have to learn the basics of harmony and rhythm, then develope your own "sytle" from there.
i force myself to write as often as possible nowadays , that just helps me develope ideas faster (because your getting used to writing, yes you can actually learn that).
and i can get rid of 90 % i write (which to my ears is shit)
but i certainly sometimes look at a song i wrote and go : holy shit, how did i do this - was that really me?
462studio
462 Studio
While I can sit down to write just to write usually I end up imagining parts in my mind and when I have the time and the interest I record them to a click track, then program some drums to loop after I have one idea down, and write the next part to fit the first part that I heard in my head.
So I never really write just because I want to write, I just do it because I've already had an idea, and the following parts I write on the fly while tracking the first idea.
I've been happier making music this way rather than sitting down with the intent to 'write a song', or going to a band practice to 'work on new material', like I did in the past.
So I never really write just because I want to write, I just do it because I've already had an idea, and the following parts I write on the fly while tracking the first idea.
I've been happier making music this way rather than sitting down with the intent to 'write a song', or going to a band practice to 'work on new material', like I did in the past.
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